Captain Snorkel. Also known as my father-in-law. He earned the nickname on a vacation to the British Virgin Islands.Somehow, it stuck. He loves all things sailing, and has passed that love on to my boys because of the trips and sleepovers on the sailboat that he and my lovely mother-in-law thake them on. Those kids don't know how good they have it. Anyhow, when the big six-oh came along, there was no question when it came to his birthday cake. None at all. This one was so fun to make, even my hubs got into it. He gets credit for the flippers and a whole bunch of the fish. I had no idea how much fun it is to share your passions with the one you love. Unfortunately for him, my attention span when he's explaining linear algebra and coding systems is awfully short. Try though I do, I think I might stick to basic ingredient measurement conversions when it comes to my dealing with numbers. Happy Birthday, Captain Snorkel! 

The way to a man's heart...

Is through his stomach, right? So then whoever decided that Valentine's Day should consist of chocolate and other sweets was probably a woman, trying to squeeze her way into the heart of a man. Makes sense to me. My Valentine (well, the grown up one) believes this too. Meaning that I usually spend February 13th in the kitchen, preparing for the next day. Vanilla cakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Festive, right? I know. And they were as good as they sound. My Valentines (big AND little) were feeling the love.

A Grinchy Birthday

What 4 year old doesn't love the grinch? Ok, let's be honest. What person, no matter what age, doesn't love the grinch? I'm not talking strange human-like drawn-out story Jim Carey grinch, I mean the Grinch in it's pure form. The original. The way Dr. Suess intended. I'm not gonna lie, sometimes, as a kid, when no one was paying attention, I would slip it into the VCR in the middle of July. My kids, of course, have been well indoctrinated into the world of classic Christmas movies. These include (but of course,are  not limited to) Home Alone, "toy-mation" Rudolph, Santa Claus is coming to town, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, and even the less well known Santa and the 3 Bears. But of course, and as it should be, the Grinch is the favourite. Lucky for us, my eldest has a birthday in December. You can imagine my excitement when a Grinch cake was requested! My sister Amanda and I were up to the task, because, as I have said before, Christmas equals baking. True story.

Let it Snow!

Cookies, that is. My sister Amanda and I spend a majority of the day making these festive little cookies for family, coworkers, and friends. However, when my husband came home and was informed that yes, we were giving them away, he was not very happy. So, we have been convinced to keep some here, meaning that more will need to be made later. It's not a big deal, though. Growing up in our house, we were taught that the word "Christmas" is practically a synonym for "baking", which means that I usually end up baking at least one thing every day during the holidays!

Goin' bananas!

My sister Amanda's good friend Anna was celebrating a birthday, so we got together to make these cupcakes. They were pretty much her idea and to be honest, she did 75% of the work on these. BUT we used my kitchen! Her friend's nickname is Anna Banana so these were pretty fitting. They have little Reese's cup insde the cupcake, and the brown ones are chocolate peanut butter frosting. Yellow are banana frosting. They were (cheesy saying coming) more fun than a barrell of monkeys!

Bridal Shower Mini-Cupcakes

My best friend is getting married in 2 weeks (yay!!!) and so I made these little mini-cupcakes for her bridal shower last night. I debated back and forth between flavour and size, and in the end I decided to do mini ones because her mom was doing all the other food, and she is amazing so I knew people would be filling up with her snacks before they made it to mine! They are vanilla cake with almond buttercream frosting, and the gold sugar on top goes along with the wedding colours. I was so excited to plan this shower for my bestie and have an excuse to make these! Best of luck to the happy couple!

Happy Cake-o-ween!

My son asked if I would make some cupcakes for his preschool class for Halloween. I made a nice even 2 dozen so that his teachers could have some too, but it didn't leave leftovers for us at home. Which, of course, my husband saw as a problem. Despite my house being completely and utterly disatrous becuase of our upcoming move this weekend, I decided to be the good wife and make an extra dozen. Or two. Okay, it was three. But who's counting? Halloween is all about sugar comsumption anyway, right?